International Update | November 16, 2015

For the Second Time: NCF’s Staff Member Summoned and Threatened by the Shin Bet

Two weeks ago, about 15 Shin Bet agents and police officers arrived at the home of one of NCF’s staff members around midnight. They woke up his family, took his brothers out of their beds, forced them to line up outside towards the house’s fence, and searched them. When NCF’s staff member arrived at the house a Shin Bet agent handed him an invitation to come for a “talk” with the Shin Bet.

During the “talk” the Shin Bet agent threatened him, suggested him to halt his political activity, asked him to start working with the Shin Bet and even suggested to pay him for it. This is the second time an NCF staff member is being summoned by the Shin Bet.

NCF’s response: “Summoning central activists from the Bedouin community, as well as human rights activists, to Shin Bet interrogations constitutes a fatal blow to the Bedouin community’s right to protest, organize, and struggle for its future. It is inconceivable that the the Bedouin workers in an Arab-Jewish organization be summoned to a Shin Bet interrogation on a regular basis, months after starting the job, and be harassed by the authorities”.

Attorney General: Be’er Sheva Municipality violated freedom of expression by its demand to cancel movie screening at the Multaqa-Mifgash

In July, following pressure from right-wing activists, the legal advisor of the Be’er Sheva municipality demanded NCF to cancel the screening of “Shivering in Gaza”, claiming that it is a political activity which according to regulation is forbidden in the municipality’s facilities. The Multaqa-Mifgash, NCF’s Arab-Jewish culture center is located in a shelter, owned by the municipality, that was granted to the organization about 10 years ago. The screening was indeed canceled, as NCF could not afford to lose the center, yet NCF asked the Association for Civil Rights (ACRI) for assistance.

ACRI applied to the Attorney General, after they didn’t receive an answer from the municipality’s legal advisor, claiming for violation of freedom of expression. In response the Attorney General clarified that the Municipality had no reason to cancel the screening and that the term “political activity” should be carefully and sparingly interpreted.

State will Complete the Interrogation of the Sami al-Ja’ar Killing by the End of the Year

On November 2nd, during the first Supreme Court hearing concerning Khaled al-Ja’ar’s petition to indict the policeman who killed his son, the petitioners decided to withdraw their petition. As the state representative promised to complete the interrogation by the end of 2015, the Judges recommended al-Ja’ar to withdraw the petition.

Sami al-Ja’ar, a young Bedouin resident of Rahat, was shot dead during a police raid in the city of Rahat in January 2015. Only a month later, in the middle of February, an officer from Rahat police station admitted his involvement in the shooting which killed al-Ja’ar. The policeman was released within a couple of days, and was reassigned to a desk position at the District Commander’s Office. About 10 months after the killing of al-Ja’ar, the policeman who admitted the shooting is still free.

Israeli Police to Start Using Ruger 22 Rifles in the Negev

Already in the middle of September, Prime Minister Netanyahu declared that he will be changing the open-fire regulations “in the south and Galilee” against rioters and stone throwers. The Prime Minister instructed the Attorney General to allow the use of Ruger 22 rifles by police snipers within the Green Line against Israeli citizens. In the Negev-Nagab area, it is clear that such means will be employed only against the Bedouin community.

The Ruger 22 is able to kill from a distance of one kilometer, and it is used by the Israeli army in much smaller ranges. According to statistics provided by B’Tselem, the IDF has already killed three teenagers in the West Bank using this type of weapon in 2015.